As I packed my bags and headed off for party conference, the political weatherwatchers were issuing gale warnings. We were told that hapless Lib Dems were facing a stormy row over tax cuts, a divisive shift to the right. But the forecast was wrong. The weather in Bournemouth was sunny this week, and so was our conference.

I rate as a "left liberal" according to the political compass; I wouldn't back a policy that put frontline services in health or education at risk. But the debate on "Make it Happen" was uplifting not rancorous – even the ultra sceptical Michael Crick was impressed. And I'm very happy with our policy: as Nick Clegg said, the most progressive – most redistributive – tax plan ever put forward by a British political party.

So no move to the right; if anything, Nick's speech was a love letter to progressive voters disillusioned with Labour. And no row either; there was far more angst on the structure of police authorities than there was on tax.

I'm committed to public services – but I've no illusions that they always get it right. And the waste on developing systems like the national ID card scheme or the NHS database are areas where the Government has got it badly wrong.

They seem obsessed with collecting data, because in the information age they can; it's an electronic Everest, to be scaled because it's there. This predates new Labour; league tables were a Conservative big idea. Central government claims it needs local data to direct centralised spending, instead of delegating funds to the people who know what's happening on the ground. All this is a process that is expensive, stops people getting on with frontline jobs, and puts our personal data at risk. I'd put a card in to speak in the data debate even before the latest disaster: 18,000 Islington health workers' pay details lost in the post.

Suppose these information infrastructure projects were abandoned, suppose government wasn't obsessed with trying to know everything about everyone. Suppose they put their efforts into projects that fight climate change instead. From high-speed rail to energy efficiency programmes, that's the investment I'd rather see happen.

Outside the debates, I helped launch Nick's One Million Door challenge. The name may be a bit confusing - after a long session in the conference bar, it became the Million Dollar Question, or the Million Man March. One optimist even called it the Million Seat Challenge: today Islington, tomorrow the world..... But the central point is a clear: to get Lib Dem campaigners all over the country out knocking on doors between elections, meeting people, listening to their views - and reconnecting people with politics.

Back home, the Bournemouth sunshine is still with our Lib Dem team. In contrast, the outlook for Labour in Manchester seems very gloomy indeed.

On the last day of conference, we heard that Goswell Road post office is set to close. The Post Office have rejected the strong objections we made and the hundreds of petition signatures collected. This is the 13th post office in Islington to close under Labour; so it's unlucky indeed for our borough.

What's so frustrating is that the 'network renewal programme' didn't identify this branch for closure. The Post Office have been very clear that they only decided to close Goswell Road because they have to meet Government cuts targets, after reprieving branches elsewhere.

Since we started our petition back in June, I've met so many people who use this branch, from local families to staff and students at nearby City University. Like the man with lung disease who depends on getting his incapacity benefit there. Or the woman who chooses to use Goswell Road because the queues at the main Post Office are nearly an hour long. Other branches in Islington are too busy and too far away. When another local branch closed two years ago, people switched to Goswell Road instead. Where are they supposed to go now?